Make Your Own T-shirt Design

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When children draw, they bring their own fantasy worlds into view—or show us the world from their own perspectives. Why not transfer your child’s dinosaur kings, treasure maps, and hand-drawn family portraits to T-shirts, tote bags and aprons for all the world to see? Use this activity to find out how! Chances are, your child will love seeing his artwork on a bag or T-shirt. This is a great birthday party activity and the finished products make great gifts! Wear your art on your sleeve with this activity that shows you how to display your child's art onto T-shirts.

What You Need:

Cotton or cotton/poly blend piece of clothing (like tote bag or t-shirt) in a light color

Computer, scanner, and ink-jet printer

Iron and ironing board

What You Do:

Hand your child some markers and invite him to draw some pictures. (You can also scan a photo, or make a drawing using a digital program.) Encourage him to draw whatever he likes and offer some ideas, such as a family portrait, his favorite animal, a sunny day, or a superhero!

If it's around a holiday or a grandparent's birthday, encourage him to draw a themed picture, like a Christmas scene or a portrait of your child with grandma. There is a lot of creative leeway here, so whatever he comes up with is A-ok!

Open the image in an art program, and flip the picture horizontally so it looks like a mirror image of the original picture. Resize accordingly.

Print the image onto the transfer paper and wait about 20 minutes for the ink to dry thoroughly.

If the image doesn't take up an entire page of transfer paper, cut around the edges of the image so you have a small border.

Using high heat, iron the image onto a piece of clothing, pressing down as hard as you can, for about a minute. Keep in mind that ironing time varies according to the size of the image, so keep the transfer paper instructions nearby if you're not sure how long to iron. Note: light-colored clothing will give you the best results, so try to find a piece of clothing in white or another light color.

The transfer should last through dozens of washes but for the best results, flip the clothing inside out before each wash. Now you have a cool and one-of-a-kind piece of clothing that shows your child's boundless artistic talents!